Welcome, this is our Farmhouse

May brings springtime to Kansas City, and last weekend was perfect for a warm-weather dinner outing. It was Beth’s turn to choose the restaurant, and choose she did: we went to Farmhouse in the City Market area.

This is a bit more upscale than we Gastronomical All Stars usually experience, and was totally worth it. I can’t wait to go back.

Aside from the River Market, I haven’t spent much time in City Market. It’s a fun area with a great vibe. All the old brick buildings and leafy trees reminded me of Chicago’s Old Town neighborhood.

When we joined the group at the restaurant, Beth announced she would buy wine for the table as punishment for not blogging. Boy am I glad she forgot to blog. Justin followed suit by getting a few cheese plates and Erin crostini. (These were not your average appetizers of shame, folks!)

Décor was cool: a mix-match of country-style tables and chairs and huge barn-looking door. The art was funky mixed with paintings of cows.

I went simple and ordered the polenta on the recommendation of our server. I’ve always known polenta to be bland, but they do it right at Farmhouse. It came with roasted tomatoes and goat cheese, with a little caramelized onion and balsamic vinegar. Wow. This was the choice for me.

I sampled almost everything else, and everything was delicious. I will have to come back so I can have more of the grits, salmon, rabbit-lentil soup and lamb.

The only disappointment is the lack of local wine selection: there wasn’t much. All the wine from the local wineries were sweet (darn Missouri grapes): to get a dry red, I had to go to Argentina for a malbec.

Next time I want to try one of their fun cocktails (served in--what else?--a mason jar). And maybe a dessert or two.

I gave Farmhouse a 4.8/5 stars—the highest to date.